Compound guide · Tier D
MT-2
The one compound in this catalogue where the honest answer is simply no. Multiple regulators have warned about it, and melanomas have been reported in people using it.
The short answer
We link to the products we cover and we are telling you not to buy this one. Melanotan II has never been approved in any country. The MHRA has warned about it publicly since 2009, the TGA does not register it, and the Skin Cancer Foundation has issued its own warning. There are at least five reported cases of melanoma arising during or after melanotan II use, alongside reports of rapid darkening and proliferation of moles, including one adolescent who developed close to forty new moles on his back. Systemic toxicity and muscle damage have also been reported. The mechanism makes the pattern coherent rather than coincidental: this is a non selective melanocortin agonist driving melanocyte activity, and it simultaneously changes the appearance of the exact lesions a dermatologist would use to catch a melanoma early. If you want the melanocortin story with an approval behind it, MT-1 exists. This one we would not buy.
At a glance
| Class | Non-selective melanocortin receptor agonist |
| Developer | Originally investigated at the University of Arizona. No developer took it to approval. |
| Sold as | None. Melanotan II has never been licensed anywhere. |
| Regulatory status | Not approved anywhere, ever, and actively warned against. The MHRA classified melanotan II as an unlicensed medicine whose safety has not been established and issued a public warning in 2009; it remains unlicensed in the United Kingdom. It is not registered with Australia's TGA, where it is illegal to advertise it to the public or supply it without a prescription. It has no FDA approval for any indication. |
| Compounding status | There is no lawful compounding route, because there is no approved melanotan II product anywhere to compound an equivalent of. Every unit in circulation is unapproved material. |
| Anti-doping | Not specifically named. This is the least of the reasons not to use it. |
| Our evidence tier | Tier D. Preclinical evidence only |
What it is
Melanotan II is a synthetic cyclic analogue of alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone that activates melanocortin receptors non selectively, across MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R. MC1R activation produces the pigmentation that people buy it for. The others produce the appetite suppression, the nausea, the spontaneous erections and the flushing that come with it, and are the reason its effects are so much broader than a tanning agent has any business being.
Who it is for, and who actually takes it
Nobody. There is no approved population because there is no approval, and there is no clinical setting in which a regulator considers this an appropriate product.
It is bought for cosmetic tanning, frequently by young people, and increasingly through social media promotion. It is also bought for the sexual effects, which is the MC4R activity that bremelanotide was developed to isolate and license properly.
What the research shows
There is no controlled human trial of melanotan II to chart. The human evidence base is case reports of harm, and those are reported in words here rather than dressed up as data.
Dosing
We publish no dosing for melanotan II and there is none legitimately to publish. No regulator has approved a dose. No controlled human trial established one. The schedules circulating online are community practice, and given that the documented harms include melanoma case reports and rhabdomyolysis, presenting any number here would imply a safe way to use this that nobody has established. We publish no reconstitution guidance either.
What happens when you come off it
Pigmentation fades after discontinuation. Changes to moles and pigmented lesions do not necessarily reverse, which is the part that matters. Anyone who has used melanotan II should have their skin checked by a dermatologist and should say what they used, because the visual baseline a clinician relies on has been altered.
What it is being studied for
| Area | Stage of evidence |
|---|---|
| Cosmetic tanning | No approval, no controlled safety data, regulator warnings issued |
| Sexual dysfunction | The MC4R effect was isolated and developed separately as bremelanotide, which is approved. Melanotan II itself was not |
| Appetite suppression | Observed effect, never developed to approval, not studied for safety at scale |
| Photoprotection | Not established, and induced pigment obscures lesion assessment |
Note the second row. The pharmaceutical industry looked at this molecule, took the one receptor activity it could develop safely, and left the rest. Bremelanotide exists as an approved medicine precisely because melanotan II as a whole was not a viable drug.
Common myths
It is safe because it is just a tanning peptide.
It activates melanocortin receptors across at least four subtypes, which is why users report nausea, flushing, appetite loss and spontaneous erections alongside pigmentation. Melanomas have been reported during and after use, and so has rhabdomyolysis. Nothing about this compound is confined to tanning.
A melanotan tan protects you from sun damage.
That has never been established. What is established is that it darkens and multiplies moles, which makes melanoma harder to spot, both for you and for a dermatologist. It works against early detection.
The melanoma reports are anecdotes, not proof of causation.
That is technically correct and it is a weak place to stand. Case reports are the evidence that exists because no one has run, or could ethically run, a controlled trial of an unlicensed tanning drug. The reports are consistent with the mechanism, several regulators have acted on them, and the alternative reading requires assuming a coincidence in exactly the tissue the drug targets.
It is fine if you buy a high purity vial from a good vendor.
Purity addresses whether you received melanotan II. It does not make melanotan II a good idea. The vendor product page for this compound carries no melanoma warning at all, which is worth noticing before you treat a certificate of analysis as a safety document.
Verifying a purchase
The identity check is the same as for the other melanocortins: mass spectrometry against melanotan II specifically, with the batch code from your vial on the report. We would rather you did not need it. A certificate of analysis confirms what is in the vial and can say nothing about whether the contents should be injected, and this is the clearest case on the site of those being two entirely different questions.
The general method is set out in our guide to reading a certificate of analysis, which covers the eleven checks that apply to any compound. The points above are the ones specific to MT-2.
Caveats and safety
Documented harms in the published literature and regulator communications include melanoma reported during and after use, rapid change and proliferation of naevi, systemic toxicity, rhabdomyolysis, nausea and flushing, and pigmentation changes in the oral mucosa. The MHRA and the TGA have both acted. The Skin Cancer Foundation has issued a warning. Anyone using it should be under dermatological surveillance, which is an odd sentence to write about a cosmetic product bought online.
Where to get it
Where to get it
CertaPeptides Romania, EU. Volume discounts at 3+, 5+ and 10+ units. Note that the vendor product page for this compound carries no melanoma warning.
| Vial | Price |
|---|---|
| 5 mg | €24.99 |
| 10 mg | €34.99 |
Stated purity. ≥98% stated batch specification. Published lot report #155231 returned 99.72% on a 10 mg vial. Purity is not safety, and on this compound the distinction is the entire point.
Documentation. Selected lots independently tested by Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic), HPLC plus mass spectrometry, reports searchable on the Janoshik public portal and at certapeptides.com/verify.
MT-2 is sold as laboratory research material. The vendor states it is not for human consumption and that it is not approved by the FDA, the EMA or any other regulator for use in humans or animals. Read the evidence tier at the top of this page before the price.
View MT-2 at CertaPeptidesAffiliate link. We earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. It does not change a word of the assessment above. Every product we have priced, in one list.
Sources
- MHRA, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia
- Skin Cancer Foundation warning regarding melanotan II
- Melanotan II, DermNet NZ
- Melanocortin 1 receptor activation, benefits and risks review
Related compounds
Disclosure. PeptoPurity is an affiliate of CertaPeptides and earns a commission on qualifying purchases made through the vendor link on this page, at no additional cost to you. That relationship does not set the evidence tier, alter the verdict, or change a word of the assessment. Our Tier C and Tier D pages carry the same links as our Tier A pages, with the same conclusions we would publish if we earned nothing. Where the registered, prescribed route is the better option, we say so on the page that would otherwise pay us.
Scope. This is an evidence review, not medical advice. Where an approved label schedule is reproduced it is a record of what a regulator has published about a licensed medicine, not a recommendation and not a schedule for anyone to follow unsupervised. For unapproved compounds we report only the doses used in published studies, attributed to those studies, and we publish no protocols and no reconstitution guidance for any compound. Regulatory status differs between countries and changes over time. Material sold for laboratory research is not approved for human use. Decisions about treatment belong with a qualified prescriber.